- Lukashenko says Belarus doesn’t have enough potash for Trump
Source: Politico
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has admitted his country doesn’t have enough potash to satisfy U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for the critical fertilizer. ‘Everyone keeps saying: Ah, potash! Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,’ Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Vladimir Orlovsky, head of the Belarusian state customs authority. That same day, Trump said his country was ‘working on a deal’ to purchase Belarusian potash fertilizer, as it’s ‘substantially’ cheaper than Canada’s offering. Washington and Ottawa are embroiled in an escalating trade dispute. … Canada is the world’s largest potash producer, producing 15 million metric tons annually, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Belarus produces around 6 million metric tons — only slightly more than annual U.S. import volumes of 5.6 million metric tons.” (09/22/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/belarus-alexander-lukashenko-potash-supply-us-donald-trump/
- Netanyahu says he will ‘tell the truth’ about Zohran Mamdani during UN speech
Source: Fox News
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he will ‘tell the truth’ about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani when he speaks at the U.N. General Assembly later this week. ‘Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani. Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews,’ Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. ‘I’m coming to the U.N. I am going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell you the truth about you.’ Mamdani previously has called Netanyahu ‘a war criminal’ and ‘architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people’. When asked by a reporter in July about ‘What do you think that these people who are frustrated with Netanyahu should do when he arrives in New York City for the United Nations meeting,'” (09/22/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/iran-war-strait-hormuz-trump-talks-un-general-assembly-09-22-26
- MS: Grand Jury Finds Insufficient Evidence of Crime in Death of Nolan Wells
Source: New York Times
“A grand jury in Mississippi has concluded that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges in the case of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who was found dead two days after a boat outing with friends on July 4. The grand jury in Jackson County, Miss., found unanimously that the circumstances and condition of Mr. Wells’s body were ‘consistent with drowning,’ according to a copy of its report posted on social media on Monday by the county district attorney’s office. It also said there was no credible evidence of criminal conduct by the people who traveled with him to an island off the Mississippi coast that day. … The report noted, however, that there is no statute of limitations in Mississippi for homicide cases, and that if any evidence emerges suggesting that the death of Mr. Wells was not accidental, it should be referred to the grand jury for consideration.” (09/2/260
- As Dems gear up for White House fight, AOC issues thinly veiled threat to Kamala Harris
Source: New York Post
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a thinly veiled warning to the Democratic establishment, making clear she wouldn’t step aside for any other potential presidential candidates in 2028 — including Kamala Harris. ‘I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,’ she told The New York Times when asked which factors would weigh on her decision about whether to launch a White House bid. The 36-year-old New York Democrat (the youngest woman ever [s]elected to Congress) has yet to announce a presidential campaign, but her comments make clear she isn’t waiting for a nod from Democratic leaders or a potential primary rival before deciding her own political future.” (09/22/26)
- South Korea: Court reduces former first lady’s sentence over luxury gifts and favors
Source: ABC News
“A South Korean appeals court on Tuesday reduced the prison sentence of the wife of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol from seven to five years, following her initial conviction of accepting luxury gifts from businesspeople and others seeking political and business favors. The Seoul High Court threw out some of the corruption charges against Kim Keon Hee, including one involving a luxury watch from businessman Seo Seong-bin who allegedly sought government support for his robotic dogs business. In June, the Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of accepting the watch, but the high court on Tuesday said the prosecutors had not sufficiently proved that the watch was provided in exchange for business favors. The court upheld most of her other convictions.” (09/22/26)
- Vance Fraud Task Force Condemned as “Smokescreen” for Booting 700,000 More People Off Healthcare
Source: Common Dreams
“The Trump administration is planning to boot more than 700,000 people from their Affordable Care Act coverage as part of a purported initiative to root out fraud in the program—an effort that campaigners said is nothing more than a pretext to kick more people off healthcare. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the White House’s ‘Task Force to Eliminate Fraud’, announced the planned ACA purge during a press conference on Tuesday alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, whose agency has touted a right-wing think tank’s dubious claim that millions of ACA enrollees are on the program improperly. Vance insisted during Tuesday’s press conference that the administration is putting itself ‘under an extraordinary burden of proof’ to ensure its mass removal doesn’t impact people who are eligible for ACA coverage, but advocates were not convinced.” (09/22/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/jd-vance-healthcare-task-force
- MIT knocks Princeton off top spot in controversial US News university rankings
Source: Washington Post
“Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been placed at No. 1 in an annual ranking of U.S. colleges, with Princeton losing out on the top spot for the first time in 15 years. The Best Colleges list, published by the U.S. News & World Report, is one of the most influential rankings for universities, even though higher education experts have long criticized its methodology, including its reliance on a ‘peer assessment.’ The 2027 list sees Princeton coming in at second place, with Harvard University ranked third.” (09/22/26)
- “We screwed up”: Doordash admits underpaying New York workers
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“DoorDash has agreed to pay a $131.5m (£99m) settlement to New York City regulators after the food delivery giant admitted failing to compensate thousands of workers correctly or on time. ‘Simply put, we screwed up’, DoorDash said. ‘Our mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late.’ The agreement with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection follows a city investigation into wage violations, with a significant share of the payout addressing how DoorDash calculates compensation for the time delivery drivers spend waiting for orders. The settlement marks another chapter in an ongoing battle between so-called gig economy platforms and municipal leaders. The likes of Uber Eats and Grubhub have repeatedly clashed with city officials over tipping laws, minimum wages and data-sharing requirements.” (09/22/26)
- Britain vows to abstain from UN veto in mass atrocity cases
Source: United Press International
“Britain has become the second permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to formally commit to voluntarily refrain from using its veto in votes concerning mass atrocities. Britain made the commitment Monday as world leaders gathered in New York City for the start of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level week. … Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, each holding veto power. The system has long attracted criticism for allowing a single permanent member to block action on major international issues, even when a resolution has the support of a majority of the 15-member council, such as Russia vetoing a Security Council draft condemning its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and China and Russia vetoing a U.S.-sponsored resolution in March 2024 that said an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza was imperative.” (09/22/26)
- Terry Moran: ABC rejected my Biden health story after I witnessed president’s frailty
Source: Fox News
“Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran revealed Monday that he tried to report on concerns about then-President Joe Biden’s declining health — but was promptly shut down by senior leadership at the network. ‘In late 2023, early 2024, you know, it was pretty clear that Biden was fading rather quickly,’ Moran told The Daily Beast podcast. ‘I had actually traveled with him to Japan in the spring of 2023 and kind of eyeballed him there, and I thought, ‘Okay, he’s still functioning, but man, he’s frail.’ He looked like he’d blow away in a stiff wind.’ Moran added that the now-83-year-old former president’s voice was merely a ‘whisper’ by his final year in office.” (09/22/26)
- Iran’s Pezeshkian meets Pakistan’s Naqvi in Tehran as tensions with US rise
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has held talks with Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran, as Pakistan and Qatar seek to revive diplomacy amid fears that regional tensions could intensify. Naqvi’s visit to the Iranian capital on Monday was his sixth since the United States and Israel’s war on Iran began in February. It came a day after Tehran said it had received intelligence that the US was planning new attacks on the country.” (09/22/26)
- Sri Lankan court sentences 15 men to life in prison for roles in deadly 2019 Easter bombings
Source: SFGate
“A Sri Lankan court convicted 15 men on Tuesday over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed more than 260 people, and sentenced them each to 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated. The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse, following a lengthy trial that spanned for nearly five years. The April 21 attacks targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations, and they also wounded about 500 people. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They killed 42 foreigners and devastated communities across the country. All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.” (09/22/26)
- TX: Abbott slaps halt on data center permits
Source: Politico
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expanded his de facto moratorium on new data centers Monday, ordering environmental regulators to stop approving permits for the tech projects until an electricity audit is finished. The Republican has now cut off major state-level approvals for data centers, blocking them from getting environmental permits or connecting to Texas’ main power grid. … The tightening marks Abbott’s latest effort to tamp down anger over data center development ahead of a tight election in November. He has pivoted in recent months after previously calling for Texas to be the ‘epicenter’ of artificial intelligence development.” (09/21/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/21/abbott-texas-data-center-permits-halt-01086398
- Bitcoin hits highest level since January
Source: CNBC
“Bitcoin rose above $86,000 on Monday as the cryptocurrency continued its sharp rally over the past few days. Bitcoin was trading at $85,863.40, up around 5.8%, according to CoinMetrics. Earlier in the day, the cryptocurrency rose as high as $86,349.90, its highest level since late Jan. 29. Investors are assessing whether the ‘crypto winter’ — a depressed period of digital asset prices — which began after bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $126,000 in October 2025, is over. … The rally comes even as the U.S. Senate last week blocked the Clarity Act from advancing. It would have set up a framework for crypto in the U.S. and divided industry oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).” (09/21/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/21/bitcoin-price-crypto-rally.html
- Ukraine: Four killed in Russian strikes
Source: Sacramento Bee
“Russia hit Ukraine’s industrial heartland overnight, killing four, while an attack in the north cut power supply to thousands, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday. Moscow has escalated its air war, striking economic targets from businesses and ports to logistics hubs as frontline fighting has largely stalled more than 4-1/2 years into the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. … Moscow simultaneously hit industrial enterprises in the cities of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Pavlohrad in the southeastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on the Telegram messaging app.” (09/22/26)
https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/world/article317332475.html
- Flights at major US airports delayed after cable cut by construction workers
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Hundreds of flights have been delayed at major airports in the US after construction workers accidentally cut a cable needed for air traffic control. Ground stops and delays were issued on Monday afternoon for airports in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Hours later, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cable had been repaired and airports would resume normal operations, though delays were still expected. … The delays happened after the damaged cable impacted the Terminal Radar Approach Control system, which is used to guide planes during takeoff and landing, transport officials said.” [editor’s note: Sounds more like some kind of “security incident” they’d rather not admit happened – TLK] (09/21/26)
- Yemen: Houthis move to seize strategic terrain after Trump calls off airstrikes at last minute
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Houthi fighters are moving to seize strategic heights in Yemen that would cut the Red Sea coast off from areas held by Saudi-backed forces after Donald Trump called off US strikes on the group at the last minute, reportedly as bombs were being loaded on to aircraft. Amid increasingly heavy fighting in Yemen, which has displaced tens of thousands of people in recent weeks, the New York Times reported on Monday that the US president had flip-flopped wildly in recent days after a call from Saudi Arabia for US strikes on the Houthis. It comes amid the Houthis’ rapid advance on the ground with the group gaining control over much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and advancing to areas adjacent to the crucial Bab al-Mandab strait, which Saudi Arabia has used as an alternative route for oil exports bypassing disruption in the strait of Hormuz.” (09/21/26)
- MO: Appeals court reinstates GOP House re-gerrymander for November election
Source: The Hill
“A federal appeals court reinstated the Missouri GOP’s 7-1 House map to be used in time for the November elections, delivering a boost for several Republican candidates who wanted a more favorable map for the party to be used in the midterm elections. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that using an older set of maps that gives Republicans a 6-2 advantage in the House instead of newer ones the party passed last year and used in this year’s primaries was unconstitutional. … The issue is now likely headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time in as many weeks.” (09/21/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6102804-mo-court-reinstates-gop-house-map/
- Russia: Anti-war party Yabloko elected to regional Duma
Source: Yahoo! News
“Russian anti-war party Yabloko has surprisingly managed to win a seat in a regional parliament, despite being largely banned from elections across the country. The liberal opposition party secured 6.38% of the vote in the Nizhny Novgorod region on the Volga, gaining a seat in the regional Duma on Monday for the first time. The result caused a stir across Russia because the party was barred from standing across almost the entire country after a ruling by the Surpeme Court. … Experts said the party was likely excluded from the national election because the Kremlin judged it could actually win seats in parliament. Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov has positioned the party as the only force campaigning for a ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine. All other parties support the invasion, which has been ongoing for more than four and a half years.” 909/21/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/russian-anti-war-party-yabloko-154837620.html
- US regime threatens sanctions on companies doing business with Iranian airlines
Source: The Buseinss Standard [Bangladesh]
“The United States has threatened to effectively ground Iranian airlines worldwide from Wednesday (23 September), warning foreign companies that provide services to the carriers that they could face secondary sanctions, reports Al Jazeera. … The warning extends beyond the airlines themselves to airports, fuel suppliers, ticketing companies and other businesses that support their international operations.” [editor’s note: All those entities should respond affirmatively: “Fine, we won’t do business with Iranian airlines. Or with US airlines.” – TLK] (09/21/26)
https://www.tbsnews.net/world/us-threatens-ground-iranian-airlines-worldwide-wednesday-1549776
- The Real Danger Of AI: It Is Run By Evil Warmongers
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The biggest AI threat isn’t artificial superintelligence wiping out humanity in a fit of mechanical vengeance like some digital Old Testament God, it’s the same oligarchs and empire managers as usual inflicting the same evils and abuses as usual upon their fellow man. We’re already presently watching the empire building AI into its killing machines and causing all kinds of horrifying problems while these technologies become more and more complex and unpredictable. CNN reports that US military AI ‘almost started a war’ with China when it hallucinated intelligence showing a Chinese ship transporting nuclear weapon components to Iran; US military planes were apparently already in the air preparing to attack the vessel before human intelligence picked up on the error.” (09/22/26)
- Machiavelli’s Contested Legacy
Source: Law & Liberty
by Brian A Smith“Karl Marx and Niccolò Machiavelli share the distinction of being among the few major thinkers in the English language whose names have become instantly recognizable ‘isms.’ But where most educated Westerners could probably offer up some kind of definition for what Marx’s ideas mean, ‘Machiavellianism’ serves more as a floating signifier for amoral canniness in political or social life. To be a Marxist implies at least some practical commitments to equality, and perhaps to revolution, but most people, even those with a strong memory of The Prince or Discourses on Livy, would probably struggle to define what being a Machiavellian really means for one’s politics.” (09/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/machiavellis-contested-legacy/
- Home Is Where the Gold Is
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“For decades, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been seen by the world’s governments as a safe haven for a portion of their gold deposits. But under the mercurial reign of President Donald Trump, and in a general atmosphere of geopolitical turbulence, that is quickly changing. Several European countries have already relocated—or are under pressure to relocate—their gold from New York to domestic vaults, prompted by concerns about the stability of the regulatory environment under Trump. According to the World Gold Council, 59% of the world’s central banks now prefer to keep their gold at home, compared to 41% just two years ago.” (09/22/26)
- Cheap Groceries, Costly Consequences: City-Run Stores Ignore Second-Order Effects
Source: The Daily Economy
by Logan Tantibanchachai“New York’s city-run stores promise cheaper groceries, but their discounts merely transfer costs. Taxpayers foot the bill, while bodegas and grocers lose customers.” (09/22/26)
- How Bill Gates’s Billions Shape US Medical Research
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Paul Thacker“On the eve of Gates’[s] private testimony with Congress scheduled for tomorrow, a trove of federal whistleblower documents provided to RealClearInvestigations is renewing questions about how Gates money has bought what critics complain is an untoward influence on government health policy. For almost a quarter of a century, his main vehicle of power, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), allowing Gates to shape the direction of the country’s health strategy in ways that have benefitted his own priorities and pet causes while polishing his image as a benevolent global do-gooder.” (09/22/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-bill-gates-billions-shape-us-medical-research/
- From Holdout to Hunted: Kevin Reddington Seeks Phone Records & Interview with Holdout Clancy Juror
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Defense attorney Kevin Reddington appears to be moving from zealous advocacy to virtual stalking in the Lindsay Clancy case. Reddington is seeking phone records, surveillance, and criminal records of Michael Desronvil, the now-identified juror who held out in the 11-1 hung jury decision. Reddington’s demand follows his unprofessional attack on the juror on the courthouse steps after the trial. In his filing, Kevin Reddington seeks to question Desronvil after reviewing his records to see whether he lied on his juror questionnaire, violated court rules by using his cellphone in the jury room, and failed to pay attention during jury deliberations. The demand is highly unusual. Occasionally, defense counsel will raise later-discovered information on possible juror misconduct to challenge a criminal conviction.” [editor’s note: Amazing how a man of honor can be defiled and hunted for doing his proper job as a juror in a murder trial – SAT] (09/22/26)
- How War Propaganda Justifies Conscription into Unjust Wars
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya“Conscription is a form of indentured servitude. Murray Rothbard argued that everyone has a natural right to self-defense, but ‘we have no moral right to use coercion—the bayonet or the revolver—to force someone else to defend us.’ Rothbard argued that if we want men to stand in our defense, ‘the way to induce people to volunteer for hazardous jobs is to pay them extra as compensation.’ And yet, instead of offering a wage that would reward men who sign up willingly, governments rely on force to press conscripts into service.” (09/22/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-war-propaganda-justifies-conscription-unjust-wars
- We need more of the hopeful sci-fi that ‘Star Trek’ gave us 60 years ago
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Rod Roddenberry“A few years ago, I received a call I’ll never forget. Jeanette Epps, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, Zoomed into my living room from 250 miles above Earth. During our conversation, she told me that one of the reasons she chose her career was a television show my father created in 1966. She wasn’t alone. I’ve heard versions of that same story from countless people over the years. Engineers. Scientists. Astronauts. People who saw possibility on a television screen before they ever saw it in the real world. … I don’t think that was because of the ships, the gadgets or the aliens. It was because, underneath all of it, was a profoundly human belief that we are capable of becoming something better.” (09/22/26)
- Is Europe Restraining Israel – or Merely Protecting the Two-State Illusion?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud“On September 8, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK announced their intention to introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions, or actively consider measures against trade in goods with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Undeniably, the announcement represents a significant political and legal precedent. Dismissing it outright would be impulsive, particularly considering the participation of governments such as those of Canada and the UK, which have historically provided Israel with extensive political and diplomatic support. Yet celebrating the announcement as an earth-shattering event without examining its context, timing and potential effectiveness would be equally rash. Worse, it could contribute to weakening the public pressure that finally compelled Western governments to take even these limited steps.” (09/22/26)
- The Rule of Law or the Rule of Lawyers?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Adam Tomkins“David Dyzenhaus worries that postliberalism may bleed over into Britain.” (09/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-rule-of-law-or-the-rule-of-lawyers/
- Trump and Xi meet on a ‘rotting’ diplomatic foundation
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jake Werner“The war in Iran, a murky trade truce, and a hawkish foreign policy establishment that is just itching for a fight makes for uncertain dynamics at today’s summit.” (09/22/26)
- The Urgency of Recognizing the Ansar Allah Government in Yemen
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies“The Trump administration came perilously close to launching another bombing campaign against Yemen this weekend. According to a September 20 New York Times report, US commanders had approved their targets, American troops were loading bombs onto warplanes, and an attack on Yemen’s Ansar Allah forces was about to begin when President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course. For two weeks, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been pleading with Trump to intervene as Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces swept through Saudi-backed forces’ positions along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Trump initially resisted, but after another urgent call from the Saudi crown prince, he instructed the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes. By Sunday, he had changed his mind again, at least temporarily.” (09/22/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-ai-nuclear-weapons
- Blowback at the Bab el-Mandeb: How State Planning Lost the Red Sea
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“The United Arab Emirates spent eight years and a fortune trying to own a stretch of water. It bought proxies, seized islands, built runways and naval bases along both banks of the Bab el-Mandeb, and sold the whole program to Washington as the wall that would keep Iran out of the Red Sea. In September the wall fell, and the water passed to Iran’s closest ally. The chokepoint that a decade of state planning was meant to secure is now held by the Houthis, allied with Tehran. There is no cleaner illustration of what happens when a government sets out to engineer a region from above.” (09/22/26)
- A clean energy source is buried under the desert, but it takes water to use it
Source: Grist
by Austin Corona“Geothermal companies face tough tradeoffs over water as they aim to power the data center buildout in Western states.” (09/22/26)
https://grist.org/energy/geothermal-clean-energy-source-water-use/
- Why Riyadh Won’t Be Forced Into Israel’s Arms
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov“The apparent hope is that Saudi Arabia will suffer enough to abandon its diversification strategy and join the Abraham Accords, bending the knee to the U.S. and Israel. But the neocons, whether they know it or not, face a big problem: Even before Trump rejected MbS’s request to bomb the Houthis, Washington had shown it can’t be trusted as a Saudi partner. Trump’s refusal to help MbS out of the Yemeni jam serves to further highlight that fact, making Riyadh less likely to tighten its security relations with the U.S. and its client Israel.” (09/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-riyadh-wont-be-forced-into-israels-arms/
- The Value of Your College Degree Is Collapsing Before Your Eyes
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder“Schools are desperately innovating to ward off destruction.” (09/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/21/value-college-degree-collapsing/
- Pity the Poor American Doctor
Source: Pierre Lemieux
by Pierre Lemieux“Pity the poor medical provider who, barely out of the Silk Road camel transport or Bell-era telephone communications, has to deal with patients (more properly called ‘customers’ in economics) who would rather use time-saving and efficient electronic communications! This medical provider will often use government regulation as an excuse and claim that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) forbids email communications with patients, while establishing a patient portal is too expensive. In reality, HIPAA bans neither encrypted nor unencrypted email.” (09/21/26)
https://pierrelemieux.substack.com/p/pity-the-poor-american-doctor
- AI and the Same Old Politicized Hysteria
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson“The midterm elections are six weeks away. Suddenly, a debate has erupted over the existential dangers of artificial intelligence. Jacob Coxon, a little-known Silicon Valley researcher who worked at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned and went public with a dire warning: AI now threatens the future of the world. Shortly beforehand, news broke of the Hugging Face episode, in which OpenAI’s advanced AI ‘agents’ autonomously hacked another company’s computers. Almost on cue, Democrats seized on the alarm as a new cause célèbre, accusing Donald Trump and the MAGA movement of recklessly courting Armageddon. The Left demanded international treaties, ignoring the dismal record of such globalist projects: the League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, the Washington Naval Treaty, the Versailles Treaty, the Munich Agreement, the Paris Climate Accord, and the UN Human Rights Council.” (09/22/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/09/22/ai-and-the-same-old-politicized-hysteria/
- No Justice for Heehaw. Why Police Won’t be Held to Account For Donkey’s Death.
Source: Cato Institute
by Mike Fox“In the early morning hours of August 30, a baby petting zoo donkey named Heehaw was gunned down by a Cedartown, Georgia police officer Trenton Garner in his own pasture. Reports suggest that Cedartown officers were assisting Polk County Police with locating a missing person. The officers had entered his owner’s property without ‘permission or warning.’ When the baby donkey approached them in the dark, braying — as donkeys tend to do — an officer opened fire. HeeHaw’s owner, Hannah Israel, has vowed legal action. While such a high-profile case may induce the city to settle, absent a settlement offer, the doctrine of qualified immunity largely puts justice out of reach. But it wasn’t supposed to be this way. In 1982, contrary to congressional command, the Supreme Court inserted the words ‘“clearly established’ into the text of Section 1983 in the Civil Rights Act of 1871.” (09/21/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/no-justice-heehaw-why-police-wont-be-held-account-donkeys-death
- Why I Changed My Mind About AI Risk
Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama“It has been very hard for people not obsessively focused on the subject of artificial intelligence to come away with reasonable opinions about what the future holds. There have been so many extreme predictions of both a positive and negative sort that broad skepticism about anything said on the subject is fully warranted. But while that skepticism is healthy, I have to admit my own views have evolved significantly just over the past few months.” (09/21/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-ai-risk
- Medicare for All—with No New Taxes?
Source: Independent Institute
by John C Goodman“Democratic candidates and activists appear all-in on ‘Medicare for All.’ Many supporters of the idea envision a nationwide universal healthcare system that would be financed primarily by increasing taxes on the super-rich. A recent Echelon Insights poll, for example, found that 74% of voters who support Medicare for All believe it could be financed entirely by raising taxes on billionaires. This is a pipe dream. No country in the world makes health care universally free, paid solely by their wealthiest taxpayers.” (09/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/21/medicare-for-all-with-no-new-taxes/
- Slower Than a Stationary Bullet
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“In 2008 Californians approved a $10 billion bond measure as down payment on a $45 billion, 800-mile bullet-train system. At the time, a policy analyst suggested that many people ‘sense that maybe that [bullet train] is something I can use at some point. It’s something they can relate to.’ Hence the 52.7% support. … It’s become clear that the only likely result of California’s ‘high-speed’ project, in addition to lining the pockets of the politically well-connected, will be duplicating and interrupting an already-existing service.” (09/21/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/09/21/slower-than-a-stationary-bullet/
- Is the hype about AI real? Or insane?
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“AI may be deadly but not because of anything intrinsic to AI programs or apps, but because humans make mistakes and misuse it. In other words, just like firearms, automobiles, pots and pans, and anything else that humans have invented and use.” (09/21/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/09/21/is-the-hype-about-ai-real-or-insane/
- War Has Never Been More Irrational
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper“In 1910, the British journalist Norman Angell published a book called The Great Illusion, in which he argued that recent economic developments had made war a senseless proposition. Economic relationships were so delicate and easily disrupted, and modern militaries were so expensive and destructive, that any war between major powers was certain to be an enormous net cost for both combatants. There was simply no way to make a big profit, à la Julius Caesar, by conquering some other nation and coming back home with some tigers and a big sack of booty. It followed, Angell reasoned, that if a war did break out, it would likely not last very long. Angell was half right and half wrong. Just four years later, a giant war sucked in all the major powers of the world, and sure enough, it shattered the economies of every combatant that saw serious fighting.” (09/22/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/09/22/irrational-war-trump-putin-russia-ukraine-iran-oil/
- Mike Johnson’s Claims of House Productivity Are Misleading
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“One criticism of House Republicans is that they haven’t really done much with their majority. The Wall Street Journal notes that House Republican leadership has canceled 63 voting days since the beginning of the 119th Congress. Congress really hasn’t done much to address the issues that are at the forefront of voters’ minds, such as affordability, inflation, and the economy. During an interview on Newsmax 2 with Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to deflect the criticism, claiming that the House has been on a record pace in terms of passing legislation. … Johnson’s version of events is almost comically self-congratulatory. It’s campaign rhetoric, and it’s disingenuous.” (09/21/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/mike-johnsons-claims-of-house-productivity
- People Get Paid for Blood, Plasma, and Drug Trials — Why Not Kidneys Too?
Source: Reason
by Caleb Petitt“About 4,000 people in America die every year while waiting for kidney transplants. More than 95,000 currently need regular dialysis to stay alive while waiting for transplants. The average person who needs a kidney must endure the discomfort and restrictions of dialysis for three to five years during the wait. Most countries have organ-donation systems like America’s—and long waitlists. Iran, by contrast, legalized payment to kidney donors in 1988; within 11 years the country eliminated its waitlist. Payment compensates donors for their time, pain, and risk; it also increases the supply of willing donors.” (09/21/26)
https://reason.com/2026/09/21/people-get-paid-for-blood-plasma-and-drug-trials-why-not-kidneys-too/
- President Trump Bribes the People
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul“President Trump, speaking at the Republicans’ midterm convention, pledged that if Republicans maintained control of the Congress in the November election every adult American will receive 5,000 dollars from the government. … Some commentators have expressed outrage over President Trump’s attempt to bribe voters. These commentators have tended to ignore the fact that, since the rise of the welfare-warfare-regulatory state, most political campaigns are little more than legalized bribery.” (09/21/26)
https://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/president-trump-bribes-the-people
- Government by Consent of the Governed — Later On
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“You might want to hire someone to paint your house, but the painters need your permission first. For most people, consent precedes action. In the world of ‘government as we know it,’ an invaluable Robert Higgs expression, the exact opposite is often the case, especially when the action desired implies a disastrous change to American life. Ever wonder why false flags are so dear to government’s heart?” (09/21/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/government-consent-governed-later
- Trump’s $5,000 check is definitely not in the mail — but your ballot could be
Source: The Hill
by Svante Myrick“In a necessary and unquestionably correct decision, the U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to let President Trump throw the midterm elections into chaos with his scheme to use the U.S. Postal Service to interfere with mail-in voting. The ruling should have been unanimous. … The court’s MAGA maximalists seem to be operating under the principle that anything that interferes with Trump’s authoritarian whims is a violation of the Constitution. Fortunately, in this case, even Trump justices who helped invent king-like immunity for the president recognized that the attempt to force new election rules on the states — especially this close to an election — was a recipe for disaster.” (09/21/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/6098635-trump-plans-disrupted-mail-ballots/
- Trump Sold out Venezuelan Freedom for Oil Money America Will Never See
Source: Independent Institute
by Daniel Sánchez-Piñol“President Donald Trump’s worldview essentially consists of dividing countries into two camps: those whose leaders flatter him or kowtow to his demands and those whose leaders balk at such subservience. In this view, dictatorships—even avowed enemies of the United States—are fine, as long as they play the game. This is not new in American politics. It echoes the famous quote attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt about Nicaragua’s military dictator, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who ruled the country from 1936 until 1956 (when he was assassinated): ‘He may be a son of a b****, but he’s our son of a b****.’ True to this maxim, Trump turned his back on Venezuela’s democratic majority, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, and recently signed the so-called biggest oil deal in world history with leftist Delcy Rodriguez, who was put in power after the U.S. captured and removed Nicolas Maduro in January.” (09/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/21/trump-sold-out-venezuelan-freedom/
- Seizing opportunity from Kennedy Center drama
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“The standoff over Washington’s iconic Kennedy Center underscores the current place of the arts in America in ways that are both symbolic and substantive. On Tuesday, the complex formally known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts formally closed to the public. The move followed President Donald Trump’s monthslong effort to rename and remake the center in his vision, which disrupted norms and expectations around political, artistic, and cultural touchstones. Like most buildings that are several decades old, the center needs repairs and updates. Mr. Trump says his star power would attract the needed millions – but will only be exerted if he receives recognition. If not, the president threatened Wednesday, the complex could be ‘ripped down’.” (09/18/26)
- Europe’s Trade Trap
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes“As discussions unfold over the EU’s proposed ‘associate membership’ for Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly stressed his desire for an economic and geopolitical partnership that preserves national sovereignty. This alliance serves the mutual interests of both the European Union and Canada by reducing strategic dependence on major third-party trading partners, particularly the United States and China. The paradox is that the core economic instrument designed to unite Canada and the EU, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), remains without full ratification by 10 EU national parliaments, nearly a decade after entering into provisional application. Rather than dismissing the concerns of these 10 member states as blind protectionism, one must understand that Brussels’s excessive regulations created the conditions for this impasse.” (09/21/26)
- Cordelli’s “Wrong of Capitalism”
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“I recently heard Chiara Cordelli, a political theorist at the University of Chicago, on a podcast, talking about her article ‘What is the Wrong of Capitalism?’ (APSR 2025). Cordelli says that the real problem with capitalism is its impersonality. Her thinking seems to be that because there is noone running the system, there can’t be any democratic control over the system—no one to take direction from the demos. Given that, she seems to think, we can’t but be alienated from the system—because it is not a person with whom we could connect. Cordelli’s description of the capitalist system seems spot on (at least in this regard). Her view that this is something to bemoan is, in my view, a mistake. What she sees as problem, I see as the real benefit of capitalism.” (09/21/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/cordellis-wrong-of-capitalism
- I Still Believe Humanity Is Headed For A Mass Awakening
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The fashionable thing to say these days is that everything’s fucked and we are headed to our doom, and that if anything changes it will be because the insanity of our capitalist system causes our material conditions to deteriorate so drastically that we are forced into revolution to survive. That things are bad because we’re a rotten people with selfish hearts who haven’t forced the revolutionary changes the world needs because, deep down, we actually like things the way they are. People who want to look cool and smart in revolutionary political circles tend to say that if a mass-scale transformation of human consciousness were going to happen, it would have happened by now.” (09/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/20/i-still-believe-humanity-is-headed-for-a-mass-awakening/
- The Negligence of War and Peace
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“I was still in college the year of the Gulf War. At the time, I opposed the war; and in hindsight, I still do. But I freely admit that the U.S. planned its war carefully. They assembled over half a million troops, got buy-in from almost all their allies, and after four days of ground combat, the U.S. was totally victorious. After victory, however, conflict with Saddam Hussein persisted for 12 more years. Why? Because although the U.S. had a careful plan for the war, they decided to wing the peace.” (09/21/26)
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 09/22/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“American Civics Education Tests Trivia, Not Understanding with Brian Kisida.” (09/22/26)
- Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, 09/22/26
Source: Politico
“The GOP senator breaking with Trump on vaccines and AI (with Sen. Bill Cassidy).” (09/22/26)
- Rising, 09/22/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar pondering what it would take to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.” (09/22/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6089756-rising-september-22-2026/
- The Daily, 09/22/26
Source: New York Times
“Trump Banned the Media. This Time, the Media Struck Back.” (09/22/26)
- Advisory Opinions, 09/22/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Are Marijuana Contracts Legal in Federal Court?” (09/22/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/are-marijuana-contracts-legal-in-federal-court/
- Brian McGlinchey on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Brian McGlinchey on the Deadliness of Washington’s Sanction Regime.” (09/22/26)
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 09/22/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly conversation with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. If you’re serious about picking your way through the fog of deception to understand the world around us, Eric always has an informed take.” (09/22/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/22/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Ban Backfires as Aides Leak Humiliating Motive Behind It.” (09/22/26)
- Questions For Corbett, 09/22/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“It’s the most common question confronting any would-be researcher of conspiracy reality: Who’s at the top of the pyramid?” (09/22/26)
- Pod Save America, episode 1216
Source: Crooked Media
“Trump Bans Crooked Media.” (09/22/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8955383-trump-bans-crooked-media
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 09/21/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Report Says Trump Reversed Plan To Bomb Yemen, Israeli Forces Kill 11-Year-Old in Gaza, and More.” (09/21/26)
- Interviews by Claire Lehmann, 09/21/26
Source: Quillette
“Investor Misha Saul joins Claire Lehmann to discuss Australia’s declining productivity, immigration policy, and the political choices shaping the country’s future.” (09/22/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/09/21/australia-is-sick-misha-saul-on-what-went-wrong/
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 489
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Jorge Trucco on Javier Milei and Argentina’s cost of living.” (09/21/26)
https://rumble.com/v7ft0b6-ff-489-jorge-trucco-on-javier-milei-and-argentinas-cost-of-living.html
- Reason Roundtable, 09/21/26
Source: Reason
“Does CNN Deserve To Be Banned From the White House?” (09/21/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/09/21/does-cnn-deserve-to-be-banned-from-the-white-house/
- EconTalk, 09/21/26
Source: EconTalk
“The Death of Reading (with James Marriott).” (09/21/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-death-of-reading-with-james-marriott/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 09/21/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Israel Demands ‘Compensation’ After Trump OKs F-35 Sale To Saudis.” (09/21/26)
- Rising, 09/21/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Bo French’s viral X post criticizing the students at a Texas football game.” (09/21/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6089697-rising-september-21-2026/
- The Bulwark Daily, 09/21/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump’s Latest Meltdown Is a Dead Giveaway: He’s Rattled (w/ Andrew Egger).” (09/21/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/21/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Pollster Drops Bomb on GOP as Midterm Panic Grows: ‘Bloodbath.'” (09/21/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/215627/trump-pollster-drops-bomb-gop-midterm-panic-grows-bloodbath
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 09/21/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Peacemaker of Utah | Interview: Spencer Cox.” (09/21/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-peacemaker-of-utah-interview-spencer-cox/